So take a look at below. Is it too many buttons to control all Navi, audio, climate and others? I don't think so. It's pretty well designed layout and it ADDS real style and character to the car. Looks damn high quality too. No iDrive device can do that. It has "voice" function too, so you don't even have to use all these buttons. I've used the Navi and voice system in the M45 and it was awesome. Its Navigation features are FAR better and cool than BMW. I'm sure G35 will have the same system.

I think the lower portion is lacking any style - it's a clock with buttons around it. No real thought to design there - although the designer probably believes there was a lot of thought behind it. The buttons: nothing intuitive about them and - absent usability testing - I would say based on my experience there are too many of them too closely grouped together. That is less significant than the fact that they are in a poor location in the vehicle.

Rockford has this thing out for a while, called the OmniFi DMP-1. It's this unit you can install in your car (I have one) boasting a capacity of 20 GB but furthermore, you can upgrade it yourself with any laptop HDD to whatever amount you what. You can play files from playlists, genres, albums, artists, or tagged favorites.

The more interesting component of the DMP-1 is that you can actually set this system to automatically synchronize with your main desktop/computer's MP3 collection at home. So while the car is sitting in the garage, at whatever time you set the car to synchronize, the car will automatically communicate with your computer at home via wireless and download any new MP3s you may have downloaded on your desktop onto the car's HDD.

I'm sick of hearing the term "a BMW driver". So what makes you a true BMW driver? You can disregard pretty much everything else except car's handling. Is that it? Music is one of the important factors for many people when deciding cars. Of course, the car's dynamic character is much more important but that doesn't mean BMW cannot offer the best music system.

As much as I'd like to consider myself a "BMW driver", I can't. I haven't owned these cars long enough to claim the distinction since this is my first bimmer. Do I love the car's performance and handling capabilites? Absolutely. I can't wait for the day I can track this car and test its limits. Maybe then I can say it.

I actually thought the current G35 is a nice car. Almost bought one. Would have saved me $10K. One thing that pissed me off was the lack of an AUX input. The iPod thing might be overrated but it actually means a great deal to me as does the Logic 7. The MOST adapter was speculation back in September.

Rockford has this thing out for a while, called the OmniFi DMP-1. It's this unit you can install in your car (I have one) boasting a capacity of 20 GB but furthermore, you can upgrade it yourself with any laptop HDD to whatever amount you what. You can play files from playlists, genres, albums, artists, or tagged favorites.

The more interesting component of the DMP-1 is that you can actually set this system to automatically synchronize with your main desktop/computer's MP3 collection at home. So while the car is sitting in the garage, at whatever time you set the car to synchronize, the car will automatically communicate with your computer at home via wireless and download any new MP3s you may have downloaded on your desktop onto the car's HDD.

All while you're asleep.

That's nice, but you can't take it (as much as I like Rockford's stuff) with you on a plane... An iPod is much more versatile.

I think if iDrive were just a bit faster/more responsive, a lot of us would complain less. Going through menus isn't as painful if the system actually responds instantaneously. In my opinion, it's not the lack of buttons that's frustrating - it's the fact that I sometimes have to wait 1-3 seconds after choosing an option.

I like BMW"s interior design, and the i-drive is a bold step in evolution. I for one find the GUI to be very intuitive and the I have no problem using it. I can't imagine myself going back to hitting buttons again.

Also the i-drive controller is conveniently placed. JSpira brought up a good point about the G's nav controls placements. I'd have to seriously stretch myself to reach them. (far worse than e90's power window controls)

I'm not a huge fan of the iPod. You know, I still haven't figured out how to access a nice custom equalizer menu in the video iPod. All I get are presets, which are all but useless. The iPod sounds ok with the stock earbuds, but when I hook it up to my Grados, you can tell that it needs to be equalized.

Beyond the hard-drive, it would be nice if they installed a dvd reader for dvd-r's loaded with mp3's (8.5GB each for dual layer). It would also be cool if the sound system supported software updates or plugins to allow it to play different formats like ogg vorbis or mpc's or even m4a's. This would really make it versatile enough to perhaps not need an HD.

Since this is my fantasy ( ) I say the HD would also make more sense if it is removable and has a usb 2.0 interface. That way you can organize the music however you want on your pc. The iPod is just somewhat limiting, and the situations where I can use my iPod are pretty infrequent.

Oh and Bose makes a decent system. I have to say that the Bose systems in the Mercs (before they also licensed HK) were much better than the e90's premium sound system. On the e90 the sound is muddled and the equalizer "feels" like it doesn't isolate frquencies well. I don't think you need a B&W or Polk system in a car but a nice one would be... well, nice.

I like BMW"s interior design, and the i-drive is a bold step in evolution. I for one find the GUI to be very intuitive and the I have no problem using it. I can't imagine myself going back to hitting buttons again.

Also the i-drive controller is conveniently placed. JSpira brought up a good point about the G's nav controls placements. I'd have to seriously stretch myself to reach them. (far worse than e90's power window controls)

Newsflash for you guys, memory cards are the way of the future. Hard drives are archaic with moving parts etc. Look at the stock value of the two main companies that produce small hard drives for the IPODS versus the stock prices of memory card makers. FYI very shortly all IPODS will use memory cards only, and this is a postition Apple openly acknowledges. Therefore wouldn't a memory card slot in the car be the way to go? You dont need a built in hard drive in the car, just a slot. Totally portable music, lots of storage on the card (getting bigger very day) and seamless.

I had a 2006 Audi A4 for sixteen days before it had engine problems, and I have to say that Audi's implementation of SD cards was quite nice. I had 2 separate 4 GB cards in at a time for instant access to 8 GB of music, with more music just a swap of a card away. The nav unit in the Audi could only handle decoding MP3 and not AAC or iTunes Music Store AACs, but I have to admit that it was still a nice solution.

Newsflash for you guys, memory cards are the way of the future. Hard drives are archaic with moving parts etc. Look at the stock value of the two main companies that produce small hard drives for the IPODS versus the stock prices of memory card makers. FYI very shortly all IPODS will use memory cards only, and this is a postition Apple openly acknowledges. Therefore wouldn't a memory card slot in the car be the way to go? You dont need a built in hard drive in the car, just a slot. Totally portable music, lots of storage on the card (getting bigger very day) and seamless.

I am a big music fan, I have over 22,000 Mp3 music files mostly pop and rock of size over 220Gb excluding my own Audio CD collections which I have not yet ripped them. Without a Desktop computer with a fast CPU and fast Hard Drive , I could never sort and search the music I want. I would not think a car audio system can handle the sort and search to my desired. My solution is to burn compilations of Audio CDs selected from my Mp3 collections and play the CD in the car. If friends like the music/songs of these CDs, I simply remove the CDs from the Car Audio and give the CDs to them.

Anyhow, hard drive player in car audio is a very good idea for playing DVD quality movies. The ability of ripping a Audio CD into Mp3 and store on the HD is useful. As being a CD collector, I don't like to put my original CD in the high temperature car. So, the rip fucntion allows me to 'save' a copy of the CD in the hard drive before I take the CD back home. The issue of this rip function in car audio is you cannot store your song title as mp3 filename or mp3 file tag unless your Audio CD is 'CD TEXTed'. Or unless your car audio is conencted to the Internet and has ability to connect to the CDDB.com.

You load the Hard-Drive with a Memory Card. There's a slot in the dash. The Memory card/Hard Drive method is much more preferable and universal IMO. Not everyone owns or even likes the I-Poo, I mean I-Pod. The BMW I-Pod interface limits BMW owners mass storage options to just the I-pod, which isn't good. Memory cards are a lot cheaper than an I-Pod. BMW screwed up IMO with an I-pod only interface. Audi and Now Infiniti appears to have it done right and unlike BMW isn't alienating non I-Pod Owning mp3 music lovers. Hopefully BMW will still retain the Aux input. Also, The I-Pod isn’t the best MP3 player out there. Most popular yes, most features and best sound no.

You're an idiot. You can't "load a hard-drive with a memory card". And because, you know, having to RE-COPY all your music to your car's hard-drive is so much more preferable to simply plugging your device of choice into the... get this... wait for it... wait for it... UNIVERSAL AUX INPUT SOCKET that the E90 has in it's armrest.

So much for "alienating" everyone who doesn't have an I-Pod. Get over it. Jesus, bunch of crybabies.